FAQ

frequently asked questions / troubleshooting

General

MX Light only supports the H.264 Pro-Recorder and ATEM Television Studio

What hardware do I need to run MX Light?

A PC and either an ATEM TVS or a H264 Pro Recorder. (you don't need both).

Is there / will there be a mac version?

There are no plans to release a mac version. However MX Light can be run successfully on a mac using Parallels.

Is there support for multiple connected devices?

MX Light currently only supports 1 connected device, although support for multiple devices is something being considered for future versions.

Can MX Light record & stream at the same time?

Yes. MX Light can record while streaming, or record while previewing. However, preview & streaming cannot be active at the same time.

Can I stream to ... service, I can't see a preset for it?

If the service you want to stream to provides an Flash Media Live Encoder xml streaming profile, then the likelyhood is yes. Just right-click on the streaming preset list & click 'Import from Flash Media (Live) Encoder streaming profile .xml'. Then select a preset template & load the xml file. These xml profiles can usually be found in the dashboard area (or equivalent).

If the service accepts inputs of one of the protocols supported by MX Light, eg. such as RTMP. Then yes. For examples see see the streaming help.

Can MX Light record & stream at different resolutions?

Yes.

Can I use a newer version of VLC?

MX Light has been tested with VLC 2.0.7 & found stable. Newer versions will probably work just as well but are not guaranteed.

Troubleshooting - General

Nothing seems to be working properly

Make sure you have the correct drivers installed. For the ATEM TVS this is the ATEM Switchers software. For the H264 Pro Recorder this is Desktop Video software. The supported versions can be found in the readme.txt of the MX Light download.

If you are connecting via USB 3, ensure these drivers are up to date

Make sure your H.264 Pro-Recorder / ATEM TVS is properly connected

If you have installed MX Light into the 'Program Files' or 'Program Files (x86)' directory, you will need to give it admin rights. Alternatively, copy the MX Light directory to a different location eg. 'C:\MXLight'

MX Light must be installed/run locally, attempting to run MX Light from a network location is unsupported.

Make sure you click 'test/set' on the Inc/Enc page after making any changes to the encoder / resampler / processing settings, for these changes to take effect.

I'm getting Access Violations!

These kind of errors are due to connection issues with the device and can be solved by:

Using a different USB port. Preferably USB 2 port not USB 3
or
Changing the USB cable. A short high quality cable is best.

Buttons aren't working

Some settings can only be changed when not previewing, recording or streaming. eg. the encoder, preview & recording setup.

'CONNECTED' in the status window alternates between YES & NO

When MX Light starts, it tests the connection to the hardware. This is normal.

MX Light only connects when it is using the AV stream. eg. when recording, previewing or streaming.

If your system if showing very high CPU (eg. >70%) while the preview is active, this may simply be because your system isn't fast enough to preview the video stream at full framerates

If this isn't the case try some of the modifications suggested above

Troubleshooting - Streaming

Streaming confusion regarding the console window

Currently all streaming operations open console window(s) to provide feedback. These can be expanded/collapsed by double clicking. Some streaming presets will open 2 consoles, the 1st is the encoding process, the 2nd is the sending process. If the console displays a '(/)' spinner it means that the process is running but hasn't displayed any new text. nb. its always best to check the stream on the receiving end if you are unsure!

Streaming randomly disconnects

This may happen if you try to stream at a bitrate that is too high. You internet connection should have at least 2x the upload bitrate of your stream.

Streaming isn't smooth & occasionally pauses

Check your CPU usage. If it is too high & you're re-encoding the video stream, you need to lower your encoding settings, so your CPU can encode fast enough to send.

Try lowering the bitrate of your stream (see above)

If you are re-encoding the video stream, try lowering the bitrate of the hardware encoder. As this is (generally) decoded on the GPU before re-encoding, this can cause a bottleneck as the bandwidth between the CPU & GPU may not high enough. nb. If the hardware stream is decoded using the CPU, then reducing the bitrate & resolution will reduce the CPU usage significantly.

Troubleshooting - ATEM TVS

Can't record full resolution interlaced video

If Media Express or the ATEM Control Panel have been used to capture since the system was booted, the deinterlacer will be turned on for all future captures (even in MX Light).